


The video

by Puppymom



Category: Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24896572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puppymom/pseuds/Puppymom
Summary: I'm not entirely happy with this story, it could probably need more polishing (and there's probably another grammer error in there, somewhere). But If you're starving for a new story (like me), you'll forgive me. Right?
Relationships: Chasten Buttigieg/Pete Buttigieg
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	The video

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely happy with this story, it could probably need more polishing (and there's probably another grammer error in there, somewhere). But If you're starving for a new story (like me), you'll forgive me. Right?

When Pete stepped into the elevator he took a quick look at the notifications on his phone. A video, no wait, 2 videos from Chasten’s mom. He smiled to himself, probably more animal videos. Between Chasten and his mom he was covered for live with those. He’d have a look at them over coffee later, because who doesn’t like cat videos? 

It was several cups of coffee later when Pete remembered Sherrie’s videos and opened the first one. It wasn’t a cat video, it was a video of him and Chasten’s nephew. They had sent him a keyboard for his birthday, since he liked the piano so much when they visited them in South Bend that summer. He had brought it with him to the Glezman Thanksgiving dinner party, hoping that Pete would teach him to play a song. He successfully taught the kid the beginning of “Old McDonald had a farm” before his attention was drawn by a game being played in the yard by the other kids. It had been a really heartwarming moment and Pete appreciated that Sherri filmed it and sent it to him. Coffee half down, he opened the second video as well. This one was odd, though. After his nephew abandoned Pete, Chasten had taken his place on the bench next to him. They looked at each other, talked for a bit and then they went to get something to drink together. That was it. That was the video. He looked at it again. And again, because there must be something in the video that he’s clearly missing. He doesn’t see it.

At home, when Chasten got them coffee, he picked up his phone, to see if he had gotten the videos as well, but Chasten only got the first one (replying with about a hundred heart emoji’s) . Maybe it was a mistake that she’d sent him that second video? Yet, there was something in the video, that had him look at it several times during the week. He had a gut feeling it wasn’t sent by accident, but he still didn’t get it.

Pete was walking through O’Hare when he passed the McDonalds and smiled to himself as he remembered his last time there, with Chasten. Peter had gotten them coffee at the counter, while Chasten waited outside with the luggage. When he got back, he found Chasten teary-eyed. Chasten shot him that ‘not now’ look and urged him to start walking. A couple of hundred feet on their way, Chasten explained the tears. There had been this old couple at the McDonalds, sharing fries and nuggets and a drink and they were so lost in each other – he knew he was tearing up, and staring, but he couldn’t stop himself. Pete had squeezed his hand a bit tighter. It was one of those moments that always reminded Pete why he had fallen in love with Chasten as fast and as hard as he did. Pete smiled the sweet smile he often felt on his lips when he thought of Chasten. He took a few more steps before it hit him, hard. That’s what he saw in Sherrie’s video. Chasten and him, they would be that old couple, one day – actually, they were that couple. The world could go crazy around them and they could still shut it out, just looking at each other. He stopped walking so abruptly, a couple of people bumped into him, annoyed. Pete stepped aside, leaning against the window of some shop, trying to compose himself enough to keep going.

During the plane ride to Dallas the video was all what he thought about. He looked at it at least another 10 times. How could he have missed what he saw in that video? They were nearing Dallas when he suddenly realized the question still was why Sherrie sent it to him, and not to Chasten. Did she think Pete didn’t know how lucky he was to have Chasten in his life? Because he did. Not a day went by without him being appreciative, either to Chasten himself or in a prayer.

When he got to his hotel room, he had half an hour to prepare for his first meeting. Instead, in a moment of bravery, he picked up his phone and called Sherrie. “Hi Peter!”, she sounded surprised, but cheerful as usual, “I thought you were on a plane to Dallas?”  
“I was, I’m in my hotel room now. Are you busy?”  
“No, not really… Something the matter?”  
“No… Listen, I-… I wanted to thank you for that video you sent me, the one with me and Chasten.”  
He could hear Sherrie answering in the same way Chasten would, always their hearts on their sleeves and well aware they may easily say the wrong thing. “You’re welcome… you liked it?”  
“I did. It took me a while before I… _saw_ it, actually I didn’t before today… Sherrie, can I ask… why did you sent me that video and not to Chasten?”  
A cautious reply “Um… can I ask you a question first, Peter?”  
“Sure.”  
“What _did_ you see in the video?”  
Pete hesitated, it was definitely weird having this conversation with Sherri, but he mustered the courage to say it out loud, to her “Love. The kind only few people are happy enough to find.”  
After a short pause, Sherri softly said “… Chasten knows that, Peter, he didn’t need to see that in a video…”  
“You think I didn’t know it?” He tried his best not to sound accusing.  
Another pause. “In a way I think you do. It’s just… Chasten being your first love, I fear sometimes you take it for granted, you think this is _normal_. It ain’t. Look, we obviously love Chasten. We haven’t known you for very long, but we love you, too. The two of you together, though, that’s a whole other level. You two complement each other so perfectly… it’s like my mom said the other day, it’s God’s work - keeping you from looking for love until Chasten had matured enough. I don’t know if that’s how these things work, but I kind of like the idea, to be honest.”  
Pete swallowed. A couple of times. When he finally came out, looking for love, he never gave the potential ‘in-laws’ a second thought. He had been aware that he was pretty lucky in finding Chasten. Just hours before it occurred to him exactly how lucky. To hear Sherri expressing her feelings about them – and for him – he felt a couple of tears running down his cheeks.  
“Peter? I didn’t overstep, did I? I can do that sometimes, I know. Terry will give me an earful tonight if I tell him what I did and said. I really don’t want to push you in to something you’re not ready for. It’s just… that moment, the two of you, entirely focused on each other…”  
With a shaky voice Pete responded. “No, no, you didn’t overstep. You want us to be happy, not just Chasten, but me as well… I really appreciate that… I love you too, you and Terri.” A knock on the door made it clear he needed to go “Oh shoot, I need to go! Talk to you later, okay?”  
“Sure, bye, honey.” She never called him honey before.

When he arrived home a couple of days later, Chasten still at school, he walked over to his parents’ house. They talked for a little bit about Dallas, when Pete changed the subject. “You remember how Chasten gave me this watch last year, right? And the story behind it?”  
“Of course we do, honey.”  
“I’ve had all the time I need - I want to ask Chasten to marry me.”  
Their faces showed how happy they were, but they still answered with caution “Are you sure, Peter? It’s quite a decision – after all that time alone marrying Chasten after just over 2 years.”  
“I’m sure. He’s the one, mom. I will never find anyone that will be this right for me. Every day is an adventure with him, full of laughter and joy. And love. I need him as much as he needs me and I can’t imagine my life without him in it.”  
His parents looked at each other and then back at him “Congratulations then! When are you going to ask him?”  
“Don’t know yet. I want to tell his parents too and I need to look for a ring and stuff.”  
“Look for a ring…”  
“Yes? I believe it’s custom to have a ring when you ask someone to marry you.”  
“Yes, of course… what kind of ring are you thinking of?”  
“I don’t know, gold, I guess? Nothing fancy, it’s not about the rings.”  
“Right… son, you don’t seriously believe Chasten would leave it up to your good taste to select a ring, do you?”  
Pete looked at his dad, surprised “What?”  
“Chasten gave us a detailed description of the ring he wants. Same for his parents, probably. And, very likely, all your friends and a couple of co-workers too. And I wouldn’t be surprised – every jewelry store in South Bend.”  
Pete looked at his dad in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?”  
His dad got up, walked to a drawer and came back with an envelope and gave it to Pete. Pete opened it, and sure enough - a picture of a ring, with a detailed description below it, platinum with a small diamond in it (Platinum!? – he would have never come up with that). He looked at his parents again, in shock.  
“Come on, honey. To you they might just be rings, but to Chasten it means way more, he knows he’ll be wearing the ring his entire life and he wants to be able to look at it and what it stands for, without being sorry that it’s not more special. He’ll let you have a whole bunch of literary references at the ceremony, you let him have this.”  
When Pete walked home, envelope in his jacket, still somewhat in shock that Chasten involved his parents (and apparently, half of Indiana and Michigan) in this matter. Chasten did know him well, though. When he gave him time, last Christmas and when he made sure Pete would know what kind of ring he wanted. Pete would have gotten plain gold ones, like his parents said, probably the first ones that were shown to him.

After spending Christmas with the Glezmans, Pete left his phone in the house on purpose and dashed back inside to get it. Sherri and Terry were in the kitchen cleaning up already, when Pete approached them “I want to show you something…” opening the box with the ring. They both teared up instantly. He knew they would be okay with it, but he still asked them “I hope you’re okay with me asking your youngest son to marry me?”  
In unison they said yes and gave him a very Glezman bear hug, that he happily leaned into.

The next day Sherri called him, though.  
“Peter, I’ll be honest, you asking Chasten will make him - and us - very happy. I just… I didn’t pressure you into this, did I, with that video?”  
“No… You nudged me where I probably needed to be pushed, hard. I’ll be forever grateful to you for sending me that video.”  
After a short silence and an audible sob, she said “I love you, Peter and I can’t wait to call you officially my son-in-law! You will let us know when it happened, right?”  
Pete laughed “I have a feeling Chasten might call you while I’m still on one knee… And Sherri, I love you too!”

They were at O’Hare, walking to the gates, to go on a vacation together. The luggage was checked in, they just had their carry-ons with them. And a ring in his pocket, in Pete’s case. He knew Chasten would say “yes”, obviously, but he still was really nervous, it was after all about the most significant thing he would ever do in his lifetime. He wanted to do it right. He _needed_ to do it right. He prepared the proposal in his head for weeks, bringing him on the verge of tears every time. He doubted if he could get through the whole thing without choking on the text. Chasten would definitely cry, no doubt. It suddenly occurred to him that he forgot to think about when he should get on one knee… Chasten squeezed his hand for the third time.  
“I’m sorry… you were saying?”  
“We’re at THE gate, you know.”  
Shit!!!! He knew this was the gate, Chasten had pointed it out to him several times – and this was the place where he decided he would ask him. He had been so lost in thought, they almost walked past it. Good job, Buttigieg…  
“Right!... Walk with me to the window?”


End file.
